


Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

by Quiet_reader



Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AvengersKink prompt, Exhaustion, Friendship, Gen, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Overworking, Poor Tony, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2014-08-07
Packaged: 2018-02-12 05:12:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2097018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quiet_reader/pseuds/Quiet_reader
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You know how you just sometimes hit that wall of exhaustion and are just done? Well? That.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a fill for this prompt:  
> http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/19023.html?thread=45341519#t45341519
> 
> I don't think I quite hit the prompt exactly, but the amount of times I've re-written it! BAH! Apologies to OP for it not being precisely what you wanted.
> 
> I was really trying to focus on the whole show-don't-tell aspect of writing for this short little piece. Part of why I struggled to write it so much, any comments on if I succeeded at that or not would be wonderful. Thank you!

“Back _off_ DUM-E.” growled out a voice followed almost instantaneously by the squeak of wheels turning rapidly. “No, no. I didn’t mea-… I’m sorry, alright? Don’t tilt your camera like that at me! Are you manipulating me? JARVIS, is DUM-E manipulating me? I feel manipulated. Can I get an adult over here?” The owner of said voice let the piece of wire he was currently attempting to connect to another fall to the metallic table with a soft ‘tic’. The action thereby freed him to run one hand down the length of his face in an attempt to wipe the fatigue away that was currently weighing down his tolerance levels. Tony Stark, self-proclaimed genius, philanthropist, yadda yadda, yawned. A deep, bone-cracking yawn that fairly felt like it was going to split his jaw in half. One hand rose lethargically to scrub at eyes surrounded by grey and rubbery-looking skin, the movement far slower than usual for the normally energetic engineer. The gesture was useless, however, failing to force the wires placed haphazardly on the table in front of him back into focus. The grey-toned skin was only off-set by splashes of colour from bruises stained across his skin like spilt wine. Who knew when he’d last slept? JARVIS, probably. JARVIS always knew. But still, more work to do. 

Some form of creature that not even Thor had recognised had been well, not attacking… annoying? Manhattan three-four times a day now for the past fortnight; the other Avengers had been switching out in attacking it let they all get worn down by the near-constant battles and start making careless errors. Tony couldn’t afford that luxury. His repulsors were the only weapon that appeared to have any effect on them. The gigantic creatures that bore a resemblance far too similar to slugs with stone-looking-yet-rubber-texture skin and long, long curly-ram-like horns, hadn’t been causing much danger per say, just property damage. The Avengers were all of the opinion that even that had been by accident. This had resulted in them not wishing to actually hurt these creatures just… herd them away. So the tactic had been Tony flying around with acrobatics enough to make him a strong candidate for joining the Moscow State Circus and herding them away from the city with low level blasts. Of course, he had been chucked around a bit – those tails moved _fast_ – no creature would react well to little jabs of pain, hence the bruises that were slowly beginning to litter his skin. As soon as the creatures were a certain distance away though… they disappeared. This had been going on for _weeks_ now. Tony was well, exhausted didn’t quite cover it. As to why he was up now? Well, who else was going to repair the suit? He had back-ups, but this was best suited to the acrobatics he was being forced to endure.

“I’ll let you know, Sir, if one enters the building. Although, I must confess, I’m uncertain if I would be able to recognise such a foreign creature. Possibly I could recommend Agent Coulson?” The British electronic voice dedicated to taking care of Tony Stark was infused with the customary overtones of amusement that were usually present when the pair bounced banter back and forth. 

Tony smirked, a weary quirk of the lips that barely tugged at the corners, “Nah. He’s dating Barton. Definitely doesn’t count as an adult… Unless Barton has some kind of Daddy Kink? Then he’d maybe count as an adult? No. Order the brain bleach, J. No thinking of team-mates sex lives. Definitely not Barton’s. No. No thinking of that at all! J? Why did you let this happen!” 

“Sir…” 

“You know what, J? Only I would create an AI that would sound so long-suffering at me.”

“Sir.”

“You’d think that I’d create an AI that would praise my genius all the time, or, you know. Be _nice_. I just get to put up-

“Sir.”

“Hush. Daddy’s talking. Put up with abuse and interruptions! Where’s the love, J?”

“SIR!”

The rapid increase in volume caused the pale-skinned engineer to glance at one of the nearby cameras that enabled JARVIS to observe the happenings that occurred in the workshop. 

“Your hands are shaking, Sir.” The much belaboured AI continued, his pitch at a more normal volume once more. “I must insist you turn off the soldering iron before you cause yourself further harm.” If there was slight emphasis on the word further? Well, the artificial intelligence unit had been trying to encourage its owner to go to bed for the past hour. Inadequate levels of rest did cause damage to humans over long periods of time whether his owner chose to accept that or not. The past fortnight had barely allowed his owner with his limited, almost unique, capacity to rest enough hours to function, let alone what most would label as ‘sufficient’. The strain was beginning to show. Sometimes JARVIS did wish that his owner had not developed him quite so much, then maybe he would not have had the capabilities to generate the frustration that was currently thrumming through his wires. However, if he was any ‘less’ then he would not have the capabilities to wish it so. 

Tony glanced down at his hands in surprise, placing the soldering iron down on the table in front of him so that he could raise the limbs closer to his face so as to examine the minor tremors that were currently coursing through them. Huh. JARVIS wasn’t wrong. Still, these repairs just had to be completed. Who knew when the creatures would return? Possibly only in an hour or two. His suit had be fixed by then. He clenched the rebellious digits into fists before blearily sweeping them across his eyes in a further attempt to shift the exhaustion hanging over him so heavily. “They are, J.” he acknowledged, weariness making it feel as though each word was dragging through sludge before exiting his mouth. “Still, no rest for the wicked, etc. etc. Have to get this suit fixed, you know the drill.”

“Might I interject with the reminder that you ought to not be numbered amongst the wicked, Sir?” JARVIS retorted, modulating his speakers so that his words came across at a much softer tone. 

Tony flashed a smile in the vague direction of one of the cameras before heaving a sigh and reaching for the soldering iron once more. Half an hour passed in silence between the pair, interrupted only by the chords of Metallica and ACDC beating their way through the speakers dotted throughout the ceiling of the room. “Sir, an email has just arrived from Miss Potts that she has labelled urgent. Would you like me to open it for you?” 

Tony placed his tools on the work surface in front of him, the movement unusually methodical for the engineer. The shivers assailing his outer limbs slowly shifted downwards from his hands until his whole body was trembling. He just couldn’t. Pepper knew how busy and over-stretched he was right now! He was just so tired and so cold and so achy. He just couldn’t right now. All he wanted was to curl up under a blanket and sleep. Neglect his duties. Neglect his responsibilities. Just…sleep. Not have people ask more than he is physically able to give.

“Stark?” The deceptively soft voice of one of the tower’s resident assassins drifted across the quiet workshop. When had J shut down the music? “JARVIS reported that you were being stubborn.” Tony shook his head in a silent refute of her statement. It wasn’t that he was being stubborn! He knew how foolish it was to get by on as little sleep as he was! He wasn’t a fool. But he was the only one capable of deterring these creatures without causing them lethal damage at least. If he didn’t stop them then the city would get up in arms, and then they’d start talking about how the Avengers clearly weren’t good enough, and those in control who were already whispering in corners about how super-humans in general should be controlled would have more fuel and it would all just descend into disaster. All because he couldn’t figure out a way to stop these creatures without permanently hurting them. Something both he and the rest of the Team were loath to do. So no. He wasn’t being stubborn. 

“Not stubborn.” There. Who said that he couldn’t be succinct when he wanted to be? 

A girlish-sounding scream absolutely did not cut through the silence of the lab as the engineer jumped up from his stool, startled by the small hand that had laid itself across his forehead. Apparently whilst ruminating he had missed the near-silent footsteps that had padded their way across his floor. “Are you ill, Stark?” came the next words from Natasha’s lips, coloured by an overtone of concern not evident within the words. “You’re shivering, but you don’t seem to have a temperature. Should I call Bruce?”

With near super-human levels of effort, Tony took a deep breath to slow down his still-racing heart. Did Natasha not _know_ that he had a heart condition? Sudden shocks like that were not good for him! It was clearly the adrenaline boost from that which provided his next words with a clarity his previously slurred speech had not contained. “Natasha! Are you trying to kill me? There are more entertaining ways you know, my heart has clearly struggled enough! Me dying of a heart attack would just be a cliché by now. Overdone. I expected better – 3/10. Anyway, no, I’m not ill. Just…just cold.” And tired. And overworked. And just done.

A wince flitted across Natasha’s face as she easily heard all the words Stark didn’t say. They, the team, had been neglecting their genius. Everyone knew how hard he’d been fighting these ridiculous creatures, his job made almost harder by the fact that they were all trying to not actually injure them. Maybe they’d have to change their tactics… they were all worn down, and collecting minor injuries. These strategies clearly weren’t working! It was evident from her team-mate’s grey skinned face. She would reopen the debate about more lethal strategies against these creatures tomorrow. 

“Come on, Stark. Bed.” The curt-sounding words were undercut by the assassins more gentle movements as she wrapped one arm around the shivering billionaire to slowly encourage him to his feet. “You’re off duty tomorrow.”

“Can’t…” came the absolutely not-a-whine emitting from Tony’s throat. Didn’t Natasha realise how much work he still had to do? He had to fix that stutter in the repulsor, and then seal that leak, and then see what Pepper needed of him. Natasha was cheating, doing it this way! Her arm was so warm, and felt so reassuring encircling his shoulders in the steel-like way that it was. It took far too many of the exhausted engineer’s reserves to not just burrow himself into the heat emitting from the woman behind him. 

“Enough Stark. Tomorrow.” Natasha tightened her grip as the light trembling that had previously assailed the billionaire seemed to spread across his entire body until he was fair vibrating with the shivers that wracked him. Surely the man had a blanket down here somewhere? He was frozen. A quick glance around revealed no such item causing a brief frown to cross the woman’s face. She knew that Tony slept down here on more than one occasion, apparently without the warmth of a blanket to keep out the chill that was a constant down here. She would rectify that soon. 

Without further word, Natasha moved towards the elevator doors, ignoring the protestations the billionaire began to spurt out with increasing fervour. Physically he wasn’t attempting to prevent her, other than the occasional accidental stumble, so therefore she felt safe to ignore his verbal commands. 

It was only when they were in the elevator, and Tony was leaning on Natasha with nearly his full weight as he continued to shiver that the woman spoke again, her pitch much more soothing than previously. “Relax, Tony. Really, you’ve done enough.” The hand that was still encircling his shoulders began to rub up and down in a steady rhythm, trying to generate warmth as well as relax the man further. 

“Never… enough” mumbled the man as he felt more of his weight lean onto the woman beside him. Strange. His eye-lids were feeling so heavy. Most curious. What was wrong with them? 

Natasha watched as the man almost fell asleep where he stood, a fond smile resting on her lips as her hand continued its stroking motion. “JARVIS, could you call Thor please? Ask him to meet us in the common room. Tony here needs some help, I think.” 

“Certainly, Agent Romanov.” Came the almost instant reply, missing the snark that was so often present in the AI’s tone. A moment later, the lift came to a stop on the common floor, and Natasha began the task of persuading Tony to move one foot in front of the other without waking him up completely. The thought struck her that maybe she should ask for Bruce as well – it would not be the first time that Tony had neglected himself to the stage that he got ill and then proceeded to hide said illness from the team. All his symptoms could be either from sheer exhaustion, or from some further cause. Still, she had felt his forehead, and he clearly didn’t have a fever, nor did his cheeks have a red flush to them. He had been working harder than any of them, so the deep pits beneath his eyes were most logically because of that. No. Better to keep it just between Thor, JARVIS and herself. 

“Come on, Tony. Let’s get you to the couch. There’s a nice blanket there and you can get warmed up. Just a few more steps.” Natasha coaxed the exhausted billionaire softly on, purposefully keeping her tone as light as she could – Tony was currently awake, technically, but if she continued to keep things quiet and peaceful then he wouldn’t jolt into a state of alertness and start getting distracted by the things he needed to do. 

Without a word of complaint, and didn’t that show how tired he was? Tony sluggishly informed his body that it _would_ be dancing to Natasha’s tune, whether it liked it or not. Five steps. Four. Three. Two. One. There we go… nice, soft couch cushions. Natasha was officially his favourite. 

Natasha’s smile grew into a grin as Tony emitted a groan as his aching muscles relaxed upon making contact with the soft cushions. She wasted no time in stealing the throw that had been carelessly chucked by somebody onto the floor and tucking it around Tony. If anyone dared suggest that the move was tender or affectionate? Well, she’d swiftly deny it, and then dislocate their knee just to prove how ‘tender’ she could be. 

The red-head kept her gaze over the genius as his eyes slipped close once more, and he fell into the snatches of sleep he’d been trying so hard to deny himself. A frown passed over her face once more as shivers continued to assail him, even in his sleep. “JARVIS, please could you up the temperature in here?” No response came, but the assassin instantly felt warmer air circulating through the room. She removed a blanket from one of the other sofas, and laid that across the shivering man as well, before curling up around his head so that she could continue her stroking ministrations and await for Thor. If anyone dared suggest that she dozed off while waiting? Well. She’d knee-cap them too.


End file.
